The Bear River girls volleyball season was expected to be astonishing and so far it’s been just that.
That was never more evident than when the Bruins defeated rivals Sutter in five sets on Sept. 11, winning 19-25, 25-16, 25-22, 17-25, 15-13.
The first-set loss could’ve set the Bruins back, but a dominant performance in the second set by Claire McDaniel helped turn the tide.
“You know man, when (Claire McDaniel) swings and she hits the ball, we tell her sometimes she’s a little bit early, but when she’s in rhythm she’s pretty much unstoppable,” Bear River coach Matt MacDonald said. “She’s really turned into a phenomenal player for us.”
McDaniel, however, feels the credit lies elsewhere.
“I think that it couldn’t have been done without Krissy Kelly, Gretta (Barrieau,) and Cass (Craig) and all our seniors leading us when we were down, because that’s when it mattered,” McDaniel said.
The win puts Bear River potentially on track for big things this season.
“It’s huge,” MacD saidl “To get this one at home, we’re 17-1 now. We got a couple players coming back next week that are going to fill in and help us a lot and we’re kind of in the driver’s seat, seeing if we can hold on and take a league championship.
None of this was unexpected for Bear River, which entered the season with a seasoned crew.
“We got a really good veteran group with a lot of kids that are just really competitive,” MacD said. “They have been together for a while now and we have some new faces that really have been great for the cohesion of the team.”.

Two years ago, the team won undefeated in league and MacD is looking forward to earning that title again. “I think that the external expectations are high, which I think we like that pressure,” MacD said.
The team is working very hard to be the best of the best. The team has limited practices until sectionals, so MacD makes sure there is always a schedule for practice.
“All the drills that we do are to help us get better with what we struggle, and they also teach us new techniques of the game,” MacD said
“Our practices are two hours long, but sometimes some people stay a little bit longer to get more reps in which is always helpful,” says Eden Cha, a varsity player who won ‘Girls Player of the Week’ as voted at SacBee.com on Sept. 1.
Some other top players this season include Mya Marsh and Taryn Creek.
MacD hopes that with all the training and drills, the girls will have what it takes to compete in sectionals.
“They are always striving to learn when we play a game, whether we win or lose that game, we kind of reflect back and say ‘Hey, how can we get a little bit better tomorrow?’,” he said.
This year, Bear River has some exciting new transfer students, such as Savannah Williams and Samara Tucker.
“It has been amazing, we were blessed to get some really good players but more importantly, some really good people,” MacD said. “I think that they bring a lot of experience and they come from really good programs already, a winning program. They are very professional about the way they approach the game, just the way they practice, the way that they take the game seriously.”
The expectations are high, even among the transfers.
“I expect to go far with the team,” Williams said. “Right now we are 16-1 so we have a pretty good record already but for the rest of the season I think we will do really good especially once the transfers come back and we can kind of go on full blast.